Chess thread

[Tal]

Commentating live on chess is very difficult, as the people playing are focusing all their energy on the position, while the commentators aren't. Commentating on blitz chess is nigh-on impossible. Here, however is one of the most incredible chess games you'll ever see played out before your eyes. It's from the World Blitz Championships (5 minutes each on the clock). I'm not sure exactly when it's from, but my guess would be it's 15-20 years old. Anand v Ivanchuk.

Even the very best miss things.

[Tal]

Here's the game itself in an easier format to follow:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018510

The critical moment is after White's 29th move. Can you spot the checkmate for Black?

Incredible, really.

It was from 1994, so not a bad guess on my part

[Tal]

Magnus Carlsen handles odd questions:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8830

What is the big question you wrestle with?

Whether there's life after death. I had a firm conclusion when I was a child, that after people died they all gather in the universe and use their powers to start a new big bang, and that this is just an infinite cycle that perpetuates the universe.

[KarmaDope]

Here's the game itself in an easier format to follow:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018510

The critical moment is after White's 29th move. Can you spot the checkmate for Black?

Incredible, really.

It was from 1994, so not a bad guess on my part

I suck at Chess. Really badly suck.

Even I saw this move pretty much straight away. Amazed how much the time pressure can confuse even the greatest.

[The Camel]

Here's the game itself in an easier format to follow:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018510

The critical moment is after White's 29th move. Can you spot the checkmate for Black?

Incredible, really.

It was from 1994, so not a bad guess on my part

I suck at Chess. Really badly suck.

Even I saw this move pretty much straight away. Amazed how much the time pressure can confuse even the greatest.

Confirmed bent coup.

[Tal]

Here's the game itself in an easier format to follow:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018510

The critical moment is after White's 29th move. Can you spot the checkmate for Black?

Incredible, really.

It was from 1994, so not a bad guess on my part

I suck at Chess. Really badly suck.

Even I saw this move pretty much straight away. Amazed how much the time pressure can confuse even the greatest.

Confirmed bent coup.

Ha!!

The whole game from Ivanchuk's perspective was like one of my PHA posts. Started OK but there was soon a massive blunder.

[Tal]

 

I know...been a while...

Anand isn't involved in the Candidates Tournament next month, being as he gets an automatic pass to the world title match as defending champ. So he is in Baden-Baden, a place rich in chess history. He's playing against Caruana and Adams, both of whom missed the cut, as well as three German GMs, including the strong Naditsch.

Anand has been huffing and puffing all week, but blew down only his first house yesterday, against Naditsch. Here is a link to the report of the round and the annotated games for you to play through at your leisure:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8842

Anand's patience is remarkable; he doesn't panic, even though his opponent seems to have more aggressive pieces. This is ballsy stuff, because he is able to calculate that Naditsch's pieces aren't working together and, with the position tight (lots of blocked pawns, so not much space), as long as he can spot and cheapo combination threats, he'll be OK. Easier said than done, but there we go.

He played the game really very nicely and see how he traps the knight on f4 and then, when Naditsch tries to get some counterplay against the king, Anand calmly stops the queen's checks.

[The Baron]

Just caught up on this properly - thanks Tal.

Amazing how you can sit there and defend a king like that without panicking.

[MintTrav]

You get 5 minutes for all your moves. Nakamura has 3.03 left mid-game and uses 1.30 of it over a single move!

[Tal]

Great find, MintTrav. Nakamura is a famous bullet chess (1min each for all moves) player online, which shows how confident he is of his game at speed. Even still, that amount of time being taken over a move is suicide.

[Tal]

The Baden-Baden tournament has just finished and Vishy Anand has a new trophy for his cabinet:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8863

That will be the headline, but it was a case of Caruana snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, with just ½ to show from his last two games, where the World Champ won both of his. Here is the final crosstable:

[kinboshi]

Zugzwang was an answer on University Challenge tonight.

They didn't get it.

[Tal]

A lot has been said and written about Magnus Carlsen breaking Kasparov's highest rating record, but what of the 'Beast of Baku'?

Garry Kasparov doesn't play anymore and hasn't for a decade. He has spent some time coaching (most notably getting Carlsen to World Number 1), but he has chiefly played the role of a chess ambassador - freelance, I hasten to add - around the world.

Kasparov went to Germany in October and began a Chess in Schools campaign with the sort of vigour and intensity we would only ever expect:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8528

I particularly enjoyed that he got into a furious debate over the Double-Headed eagle (no, that isn't a chess piece).

This week, he has been in Georgia (the old USSR one; not the one with the Americans in), setting up a chess school:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8868

Check out the name of the President of the Georgian Chess Federation BTW...

Some charming pictures of the work he's doing for you on the two links above, along with a brief report.

[MintTrav]

Not persuaded that "Chess instead of Maths" is a good idea.

[Tal]

Not persuaded that "Chess instead of Maths" is a good idea.

Nor am I. He's one of a kind, that man, in fairness.